This application relates to the World Wide Web and, in particular, to a software tool for improving the readability of documents on the Web.
The past several years have seen an explosive growth of the internet, and specifically, in the growth of the World Wide Web (hereafter xe2x80x9cthe Webxe2x80x9d). The Web is built around a network of xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d computers which exchange requests and data from each other using the hypertext transfer protocol (xe2x80x9chttpxe2x80x9d). A human designer designs the layout of a Web page and specifies the layout of the page using HTML (xe2x80x9cHypertext Markup Languagexe2x80x9d). Several versions of HTML are currently in existence. Examples include HTML versions 2.0 and 3.0, as specified by the WWW Consortium of MIT.
A user views a Web page using one of a number of commercially available xe2x80x9cbrowserxe2x80x9d programs. The browser submits an appropriate http request to establish a communications link with a Web server of the network. A typical http request references a Web page by its unique Uniform Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d). A URL identifies the Web server hosting that Web page, so that an http request for access to the Web page can be routed to the appropriate Web server for handling. Web pages can also be linked graphically to each other.
Information presentations on Web pages are often abbreviated or shortened in order to save space and to produce better layouts. Typical examples of abbreviated or shortened information include icons in the toolbars of applications running under a window system or the use of codes in statistical tables. Web pages in particular often include abbreviated forms of information because it is desirable to squeeze as much information as possible into a window without requiring the user to scroll the window.
If the user understands the code or abbreviation used in a Web page, then the information may be understood without any problems. Difficulties may arise, however, if the user does not understand the short form of the information. Designers of Web pages are used to being able to design pages by simple text editing and the use of human-readable HTML tags. What is needed is a convenient way for designers of Web pages to add additional information to their Webpages without having to understand the complex programming tools required to construct graphical user interfaces.
The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages of the prior art by adding an extension to HTML that allows a Web page designer to specify tooltips for the Web page. Tooltips are text areas that display automatically when the user places the cursor over predetermined text on a display device. The invention also enables Web browser software to display the tooltips specified by the designer. The HTML format extension allows a Web page designer to specify the text over which the user must place the cursor to activate tooltips. The HTML extension also allows the designer to specify the tooltip text that will be displayed when the cursor reaches the specified text. Using the present invention, the designer only needs to specify a tooltip for any given information once per page, even though the information may appear multiple times on the Web page.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein the invention is a method of processing HTML that describes a web page, comprising the steps performed by a data processing system, of: receiving HTML describing the web page; reviewing the HTML to locate a tooltip tag in the HTML, the tooltip tag identifying displayed info and associated tooltip information; storing in a memory of the data processing system the region of a display device at which the displayed info will be displayed; storing in the memory the tooltip information; and displaying the Web page in accordance with the HTML.
In further accordance with the purpose of this invention, as embodied and broadly described herein the invention is a method of specifying tooltips on a web page, comprising the steps of: determining a location on the web page for the information for which the tooltip is to be displayed; storing in a memory of a data processing system a tooltip tag having the format  less than TOOLTIP TXT=tooltip information greater than  displayed info  less than /TOOLTIP greater than , where the tooltip tag is stored in the memory in a location associated with the location of the displayed info on the web page.
Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.